Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-08-21

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Smoking can cause serious illnesses and should be made illegal.

To what extent do you agree?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

I agree to a certain extent that smoking can cause serious illnesses.But the later part which states that it should be made illegal is where I differ with my opinions.Smoking kills and it causes various diseases in our body which is a factual truth but making it illegal or legal depends on a lot of different scenarios.

Smoking can be detrimental to our health and well-being.Even the packet states the same.In our country,smoking is much frequent and even teenagers smoke from a very young age which eventually hits them in the later part of their life.A person might have a very good lifestyle along with structured food habits but the moment he makes smoking an addiction then he's gone for good.For instance-apart from death,a person might experience liver failure,bronchitis,tuberculosis and other fatal illnesses due to smoking.Some folks smoke for a temporary bit of pleasure but little do they know that one day it will become their misery.Hence,we should encourage youths to speak against smoking or else it will take more of our beloved people away from us.

Smoking might cause deadly illnesses but at the same time it should not be made illegal.The reason for smoking is different for different people.Not everyone does it out of pleasure.Some people experience a high level of depression and rely on it as the only medium of survival.If we make it illegal,there will be utmost chaos in the society.Making it illegal will make some youth transfer to a far worse alternative than smoking which will eventually degrade their physical and mental health.Furthermore,smoking is like oxygen to some people.They simply can't live without a puff of it.There are sellers who will suffer lose from this ban as well.For example:if we ban smoking,suicide rates will be higher,people might move to far worse alternative and the sellers might go completely broke and therefore they might commit suicide as well.The thing we can do is impose restrictions on smoking.It's vivid and ubiquitous in the society and that's why people take it regularly.So,we can take initiatives to decrease the availability of it.Furthermore,government and locals should raise awareness through meetings and campaigns.

To sum up,I do think smoking can cause serious illnesses but it should not be completely banned because of different people's point of view and life story.Rather,we might inflict restrictions on smoking and make it far less available in our society.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

You have clearly addressed both parts of the prompt: the health risks of smoking and the debate over its legality. Your position is consistent throughout the essay. You provide relevant arguments for both sides, such as the health consequences versus the potential for social chaos and economic impact if a ban were implemented. However, some arguments, such as the claim that smoking is 'like oxygen to some people' or the assertion that banning it would lead to widespread suicide among sellers, are somewhat hyperbolic and lack logical depth. To reach a higher band, ensure your supporting points are grounded in more realistic, balanced reasoning rather than extreme scenarios.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is logically organized into clear paragraphs, each with a distinct focus. You use some cohesive devices, such as 'For instance,' 'Furthermore,' and 'To sum up,' to guide the reader. However, the flow is occasionally hindered by mechanical transitions and some repetitive phrasing. For example, the transition between the health risks and the economic argument feels a bit abrupt. Additionally, some sentences are quite short and choppy, which affects the overall fluency. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring smoother transitions between sentences would enhance the coherence of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary to discuss the topic, using terms like 'detrimental,' 'ubiquitous,' and 'fatal illnesses' effectively. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'suffer lose' (should be 'suffer losses') and 'hits them in the later part of their life' (which is slightly informal). You also rely on some repetitive structures. To improve, focus on using more precise academic collocations and avoid informal phrasing like 'gone for good' or 'a puff of it,' which are better suited for casual conversation than an academic essay.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent errors in punctuation and grammar. Specifically, you often omit spaces after commas and periods (e.g., 'illnesses.But', 'truth but', 'instance-apart'). There are also minor errors in subject-verb agreement and article usage, such as 'the sellers might go completely broke' and 'the society.' While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. Focus on proofreading for basic punctuation and ensuring that your complex sentences are constructed with grammatical precision.

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